World Cup!!!

Supposedly, the US national team this year is as good as ever. I'm putting my money on the US national team for that big golden trophe.Put your money on the team that you think will win here.Tomorrow Friday June 9 11:50 am US Eastern time ESPN2: Germany against Costa Rica. I'm putting my money on Germany. What do you guys think?Tomorrow Friday June 9 2:55 pm US Eastern time ESPN2: Poland against Ecuador. I'm putting my money on Poland. What do you guys think?Bettings begin now.

I watched the game twice. That's right, I watched it while recording it, and when it was all over I rewinded the tape and watched it again.Ecuador didn't really play it fairly. They pushed and shoved every chance they got! You could clearly tell that they were all intentional. When the Polish pushed or shoved, you could clearly tell that they were all unintentional. They were only focused on the ball.Poland clearly had a more fairly played strategy. Perhaps they have fallen out of god's grace.Added by edit.England or Paraquay? Put your money down right now.Edited by rgb, : No reason given.

I certainly think so.

I still say we go into czech republic to find weapons of mass destruction and terrorists.

Congrats to you Brits out there. You just scored the first goal of the game in the 89th minute. Looks like there's a good chance you guys and the Germans will be going at it again. Added by edit.And I still want us to go into Czech Republic to look for WMD and terrorists. We can start by bombing their buildings and systematically and randomly ship Czechs to Guantanamo Bay. Edited by rgb, : No reason given.

Congrats to you Brits again. Just scored another one in the 90th minute.

Why not? If you're found guilty of terrorism, you go to guantanamo. If you are found not guilty, you go to guantanamo. If you have a mistrial, you go to guantanamo. Sounds like a perfect place for teams who decide to be better than the U.S.

What's the difference? You all speak with some weird accent

fallacycop writes

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What kind of sport do you like then?

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I'd imagine crashfrog, like so many Americans, gets a good kick out of golf. I mean, seriously, if all the espn channels were showing golf a couple years ago when the USA was against Mexico (was not world cup) and made my friend and I running around trying to find someone with some kind of miracle channel to watch the game, how can crashfrog not like golf?My friend and I finally tuned to some obscure mexican channel to watch the game... and static.

FliesOnly writes

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Holy shit, I have never seen such a bunch of pantywaiste sissy boys in my life!

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You obviously have never played real soccer before. Trust me, when the bottom of a soccer shoe scrape against the back of your leg, the pain at the time can be described as "FUCK ME!"Your problem is you are too used to watching American football where each player is more armored and padded than a foot soldier. Just about ever part of his body is protected.I've played soccer all my life. Yes, some of those painful expressions are probably fake. But trust me, some of those remind me of some rather painful experiences.

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the love of God...kick the friggen ball towards the friggen net!!

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I don't know. I like it the way it is.ABEPresident Bush should be addressing the nation, informing us of countries who have recently joined the "axis of evil" group. These countries are Czech Republic, Italy, and Ghana. Italy is seeking to possess nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction for purposes all too obvious: the return of the Roman Empire. Czech Republic just wants to possess WMD for purposes of revenge. Guana now harbors terrorists.Edited by rgb, : No reason given.

FliesOnly writes

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In soccer, they run around doing virtually nothing and then occasionally kick the damned ball towards the goal.

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The other team doesn't just stand there and let your team go straight from one point to another and then make the shot. I have heard many criticisms when I played soccer semi-professionally, but this is probably the one that got to me the most. It's always look easier when you just sit on your butt and watch. People in the audience often times fail to consider how hard it is to maneuver (sp?) the ball around the other player, who is just as good if not better a player than you.Soccer is a light sport, meaning kicking each other on the face is not suppose to be part of the game. Players aren't trained to take the punch!But consider this. Imagine that you are running as fast as you can while struggling to control a ball. Suddenly, someone sticks out his foot and you trip and fall. Everyone can relate to tripping and falling, but most can't relate to tripping and falling while running at full speed.And as has been pointed out, a soccer field is freakin' huge. To get to the goal, you don't just run in a straight line from one end to the other.

FliesOnly writes

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I'm sorry, but taking a spill during a bike race is waaaaaay worse than getting tripped during a soccer game...even if you are running at full speed. And while a few bikers are down for the count after a crash, many get back up, get some medical attention and then ride on. Hell Tyler Hamilton rode the Tour de France with a broken clavicle!

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(1) Bike racing most of the time involves one position for a long time. Soccer playing requires constant movement of of parts of the body for manuvering.(2) Same thing with soccer players after a hit or fall. They get some med attention and then play on afterwards. In the mean time, they are replaced by other players so the game doesn't get delayed more than it has to.(3) Much of Hamilton's teeth are artificial now. His teeth were worn severely from him grinding his teeth for so many hours from the pain. While it was good sportsmanship, I always thought it was unncessary. When you go on playing whatever sport you play with a big pain somewhere, you are constantly endangering your entire team. Causing your team to lose because of that key moment where a bone finally snapped right before a perfect kick opportunity is something I wouldn't want anyone to have on his conscience.

I still don't agree with that penalty kick at that last second.

FliesOnly writes

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Call me ignorant...I really don't care nor take offense

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I don't think you're ignorant. I think you're just stupid, that's all

Corruption is an issue.But for one thing, you have to consider that the rules for soccer (football) haven't changed for a long long time. It's an ancient game where the ref is the king of the field. I have seen refs giving out yellow card after yellow card to players who did nothing but persistent in their complaints. It's not fair to our standards, but it's been like that for as long as anyone can remember.Ok, corruption. It is entirely possible that corruption happens, and my friends and I often scream bloody murder to the tv screen everytime we see an unfair penalty kick or card.There was one game where at the early stages of the game a ball ended up behind the line but the goalie grabbed it and took it out. At the time, the ref was in the middle of the field so he couldn't see that a goal had been made. He didn't give it to the team that did it, but then later on he seemed to ignore an obvious foul for the team that should have gotten a goal some ten minutes before. While it wasn't official, I really think that the ref must have talked to someone and realized that he made a mistake so he gave that team back something.But anyway, the point is corruption may be a problem, but there are other things at play that are not corruption.If it is such a big thing, then how come the US national team hasn't won? We are talking about the biggest political bully since the Roman Empire.